Clearly fishing and knowing he played at USC, I asked a dumb question: "Did the Cougars give you trouble?"

"Recruiters?" he asked.

"No, the Cougars, Washington State, did they ever give you trouble on the football field?"

"The Cougars? I almost went to Washington State," he said. "I wanted to go there really bad."

Polamalu recalled that WSU offensive coordinator Mike Levenseller recruited him seven years ago but said he opted for USC because he "had to get out of the Northwest weather."

Reached Wednesday on letter-of-intent day, Levenseller said he was "99 percent sure" that Polamalu was going to be a Coug.

"I thought we had him," Levenseller said. "It was a hard one, boy, to lose him."

Polamalu took a midweek trip to USC and changed his mind.

When Polamalu visited Pullman, Levenseller took him home to meet his family.

"To show you what kind of class he had, he called my house and told Allison and the kids before he told me (that he was going to USC)," Levenseller said.

Polamalu's mom told Levenseller that her son went to his bedroom and was "very solemn" after making his decision.

"I've been doing this for 14 years," Levenseller said. "I've been with a lot of guys (recruits). For somebody to stand out in your mind that much says a lot about him. He was how you want them all to be. He would have been a great fit at Washington State."

Though Polamalu was not highly recruited in the beginning, the Cougars were on him early. Levenseller saw the potential from video of Polamalu as a running back.

WSU recruited him as an "athlete," and Levenseller projected Polamalu as a slot back or running back; USC immediately used him on defense.

If he had gone to Pullman, maybe the Cougars would not have bottomed out after the '98 Rose Bowl and maybe the Seahawks would be trying to stop him in the Super Bowl, not avoid him.

Levenseller wants the Seahawks to win but can't help but root for Polamalu, too.

"Still to this day," he said, "every time I see him on TV, I think, 'Damn, we could have had that guy!' "

SUPER BOWL DINNER: The P-I's party-crasher had a less-than-scintillating Wednesday evening, but it was nonetheless interesting when five quarterbacking greats got together on a stage at Seldom Blues in the Renaissance Center.

Starr, the first MVP, won a Corvette, auctioned it off for $60,000 and bought land 40 miles west of Green Bay for a boys' home called Rawhide Boys Ranch, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Staubach exchanged his Dodge Charger for a station wagon; Bradshaw traded his two MVP cars, a Mazda and a Firebird, for horses; Young gave his Buick LeSabre to his grandpa; and Plunkett? "A Toyota Supra. I sold it and kept the money," he said.

They were all fascinating, talking about what they missed:

Young: "Third and 10, 80,000 people screaming, fourth quarter, down by 5. To get out of that spot takes everything you have and more. There's no way you can ever get to that place again and I miss it."

Bradshaw: "Nothing, I don't miss any of it, I just moved on."

But when asked for predictions, they lost their credibility, each picking the Steelers to win the Super Bowl.

Tonight's FHM Players Party at Envy should provide more in the way of provocative copy, not to mention pictures -- P-I photographer Scott Eklund is also on the pass list.

This party will be hosted by porn star Jenna Jameson and also includes Club Jenna girls Brianna Banks and the Vivid Girls, plus private performances from Déjà Vu Exotic Dancers. Tickets for the party are priced from $500 to $1,000.

What this calls for is a thorough investigative report, after which it will be determined if I still am -- or was -- married.

AD MAN'S REPORT: In last Friday's P-I, San Francisco ad exec Bob Dorfman assessed the endorsement possibilities for players in the Super Bowl. On Tuesday he released his "official" findings in "The Super Bowl XL Sports Marketers Scouting Report."

Coach Mike Holmgren is No. 7, Dorfman noting: "Perfectly shaped for a Weight Watchers, 24-Hour Fitness or Healthy Choice campaign. And if the favored Steelers beat his Seahawks, Holmgren could also qualify for a Maalox or Excedrin spot, or a Southwest Airlines 'Wanna Get Away' commercial."

And of No. 15 Walter Jones, Dorfman said: "Best offensive lineman in NFL could work for any product that offers serious protection -- Band-Aid, Rust-Oleum, Trojans."

THREE DOTS: In Monday's P-I, Tom Gobeille at Network Computing Architects in Bellevue said he will give his employees a paid day off the day after the Super Bowl. Now this: White Castle, a fast-food chain, is circulating a petition to create a national holiday on the same day. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, White Castle believes the day should be spent recovering and that more than 13,000 have signed the online petition.